Liuye Street, Jiangning County, Wuming Garden, waterside pavilion, Mr. Hu, the left minister of Nanjing Household Department, and Cheng Huaizhi, the general manager of Xin'an Guild Hall, sat opposite each other.
In Nanjing, there is more than one Huizhou merchants guild hall, but there are two main ones, one is at the big dock on the riverside outside the city, and the other is the Xin'an guild hall in Jiangning County in the city.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Qian Yegong said that it was a branch of Xin'an Guild Hall. After all, the four largest businesses operated by Huizhou merchants were salt, tea, wood, and money, and money was just one of them.
Cheng Huaizhi was the general manager of the Xin'an guild hall in the city. He was respectfully called Cheng Taigong, and he was similar to the leader of the Huizhou merchants in the city.
Mr. Cheng was more than ten years older than Mr. Hu, but at this time he took the initiative to pour tea for Mr. Hu and said gratefully: "This time, Young Situ has been wronged and has to kneel to the county magistrate!"
Hu Shilang accepted it calmly: "If this were not the case, how could we find an opportunity to delay the attack? The grievances I suffered were nothing."
Manager Cheng sighed again: "Thankfully, Young Situ made a decisive decision at that time and stripped Qin Dewei away. Everyone thought that Young Situ was out of anger and rejected Qin Dewei, but they didn't know that Young Situ had already hatched a plan."
It is said that at the night banquet on the boat, Hu Shilang showed a angry attitude of "I am not Qin" after being angry.
In order to appease and win over the old minister, Feng Zhixian temporarily made a superficial appearance and asked Qin Dewei to be laid off. Qin Dewei himself accepted it. After all, at that time, they did not dare to take the risk of completely falling out with a minister of household affairs.
Regarding his improvised response, Hu Shilang was a little proud: "It was also a helpless move. In fact, the magistrate was still very immature, but Qin Dewei was extremely difficult to deal with. Therefore, in the emergency at that time, the first priority was to get the two people together first."
separate.
It can be said that it is the best of both worlds. If there is no expert to provide advice and suggestions, Feng Zhixian itself is too ignorant and has little calculation, so there is nothing to worry about.
Secondly, after Qin Dewei left the county government, he had no fame and no fame, that is, he was just an ordinary county citizen, so even a small soldier could bring him to justice, so what is there to fear?"
Manager Cheng was also very convinced by this. In the sudden situation at that time, he could think of it so deeply, which is hard to believe.
In fact, it was effective. Without Qin Dewei to make suggestions, Magistrate Feng was able to manipulate things much easier, and the situation was gradually calmed down.
As for Jiao Deqiu, who has suffered all the sins, he can only lose his car to save his commander, and cut off his tail to survive. It is better than the entire money industry to suffer together.
Otherwise, if someone with ulterior motives stirs up public opinion, the reputation of the entire Huizhou merchant group may be damaged. Or if someone with ulterior motives uses this as a blackmail, the consequences will be unimaginable.
At this time, there was a servant standing outside, not daring to get close to the two gentlemen who were having a secret conversation. He only reported loudly: "There is a man named Shi Wenming outside asking for an audience!"
Mr. Hu put his hands on his hands and said with a smile: "Here comes the surprise soldier from behind!"
He then introduced to Manager Cheng: "This is a scribe who came to Jingcang from Qianchong, Huating County. He was involved in corruption and was found guilty of being exiled to hard labor.
But I showed him the way. When the matter is completed, not only will the corruption case be wiped out, but he will also be recommended to become an official and be placed in the warehouses, warehouses, banknotes and tax bureaus of the Ministry of Revenue."
Officials in the Ming Dynasty had three origins, which were said to be three paths of advancement. The first, the most noble, was from the imperial examination, that is, the Jinshi was promoted to officials; the second was from the school, that is, the Imperial College, the supervising students and officials;
The third type is a civil servant. Those who have passed the nine-year civil service examination and are particularly outstanding can be transferred to official positions, but they will remain low-ranking or ninth-grade miscellaneous officials for the rest of their lives.
Shi Wenming came in and walked outside the pavilion to meet him.
Hu Shilang asked: "How is the matter going? Since you dare to come to see me, you must have good news?"
Shi Wenming replied: "To tell you what the old man is saying, after Xiao Xiao continued to sow discord, today Qin Dewei had a quarrel with Feng Zhixian, and then turned against him, and Feng Zhixian did not comfort him."
Mr. Hu then said to Manager Cheng: "The time has come to clip its wings! Observe it for another two days. If there are no other abnormalities, you can prepare to take action!"
Early the next morning, Qin Dewei got up and walked out in a hurry.
Xu Miaoxuan quickly stopped and said, "Are you having dinner at home today?"
Qin Dewei said without looking back: "In these extraordinary times, I will go to the Ministry of War today and I don't know when I will come back!"
Xu Miaoxuan: "..."
Young Master's excuses for skipping classes are becoming less and less important. Yesterday, he said that he would go to the county government office. Yesterday, he said that he would go to the county government office. Today, he said it was the Ministry of War. It was completely without sincerity.
Among the six bureaus in Nanjing, the Ministry of War has the highest status. Generally, the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing has the title of Counselor, and is regarded as the first civil servant in Nanjing.
At the same time, the Minister of War is also one of the three highest decision-making groups in Nanjing City. The other two are the Minister of Defense Wei Guogong and the garrison eunuch.
Qin Dewei's address is actually very close to the Imperial City. It is almost at the intersection of Jiangning County, Shangyuan County, and the Imperial City. A short walk eastward will lead to the Imperial City and Imperial Yamen areas.
Going up Chongli Street and heading east, you will reach a place densely populated with civil and military government offices. There are civil government offices on both sides of Qinglong Street, and military government offices on both sides of Baihu Street. The Hongwu Gate, which does not allow mortals to walk, is sandwiched in the middle.
So in short, it is the pattern of Qinglong on the left, White Tiger on the right, and Hongwu in the middle.
Turn north from Chongli Street into Qinglong Street, and the second building on the left is where the Ministry of War Yamen is located.
The secretary of the Ministry of War looked at the young man who appeared in front of him suspiciously. After so many years of class, it was the first time he saw such a young person entering the gate of the Ministry of War.
Qin Dewei took out the letter of introduction stamped with the county government's seal (don't ask how it was stamped), and said respectfully to the clerk: "I, Qin Dewei, have been sent by the main hall of Jiangning County to meet with the Grand Sima to report something important."
He came here today because he wanted to see Wang Tingxiang, the Minister of War in Nanjing.
The shadow of the famous tree made the scribe suddenly realize: "Are you a primary school student?"
Qin Dewei very sensibly took out the broken silver and secretly put it under the lid of the tea cup, "Please pass this on."
The clerk nodded and said: "I will ask the messenger to report it, but I can't tell whether the Grand Sima is there or not."
Not long after, Wang Tingxiang, Secretary of the Ministry of War, had someone say, "Please wait for the people coming from Jiangning County outside."
It's understandable and normal. Da Sima is so busy, how can he just say see him?
If it weren't for the sake of Feng En and Master Xia, Da Sima and others would not have let Qin Dewei wait and would have sent him away directly.
After waiting until the afternoon, Qin Dewei was hungry but had no choice.
Then I saw a guard coming out to call someone, and then the guard at the door led Qin Dewei along the side corridor like a prisoner.
Walking all the way to the depths, he turned and passed through the Moon Gate. He entered another courtyard and led Qin Dewei to the platform in front of the Mingtang. The gate reminded him: "Kneel down and see you!"
The last time Qin Dewei met the Grand Sima Wang Tingxiang, it was at an elegant gathering. He attended as a scholar and there were no such big rules.
As long as you are thick-skinned, it is not impossible to sit and drink and pick up girls, but now the situation is different.
So Qin Dewei could only salute on the platform outside the threshold, and heard someone inside say: "Come in and talk!"
Qin Dewei got up and entered the room, and saw Wang Tingxiang leaving the public case in the middle and walking to the east side room.
This is a reception area. As soon as Wang Tingxiang sat down, a servant served tea. Qin Dewei could only stand in the corner by the door with a low eyebrow and wait for questions.
Wang Tingxiang drank a few sips of tea and then raised his eyes to look at Qin Dewei.
To be honest, there are countless people in Nanjing who want him, the Minister of War, to remember his name. In this regard, Qin Dewei is the more successful one, and he actually remembers this person.